Penang has gazetted 50 heritage elements ranging from iconic landmarks to beloved street food under the Penang State Heritage Enactment 2011, marking the first such exercise since the law was enacted 15 years ago.
Among the 50 recognised items are Fort Cornwallis, Kapitan Keling Mosque, St George’s Church, Penang Free School and the Guar Kepah archaeological site. The list also covers intangible cultural heritage including kopitiam culture, Thaipusam and Chingay processions, St Anne’s feast in Bukit Mertajam and the Penang Tanjong dialect.
Heritage food items on the gazettement list include char kuey teow, asam laksa, nasi kandar, cendol, roti canai, putu mayam and pasembor.
Penang tourism and creative economy committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said the state government was committed to preserving historical memory, cultural traditions, artistic heritage and social identity.
“The gazettement shows our proactive role in heritage preservation and long-term vision of positioning cultural heritage as an important asset in tourism development, educational research and the creative economy,” he said.
Wong noted that all gazetted items could potentially be proposed for national-level recognition under the National Heritage Act 2005, while intangible cultural heritage elements could in future be considered for nomination to Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
“Although the enactment was passed in 2011, no official state-level cultural heritage gazettement had been carried out over the past 15 years. This year, we translated the provisions of the law into concrete action by gazetting 50 items,” he said.
Source: The Star
